Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(17)

“Playing,” Aden said as he ran his fingers through his hair and looked down.

“Right. You said that. Where?” I said as I took the last bite of my sandwich.

Nana pushed a bowl of fruit to me. I thought about arguing but gave in instead.

“Dad found a place for us to play. If we’re gonna have the concert you want, we can’t have it here; the music is already calling more shadows than we can handle.”

“Where?” I asked again.

“The old high school on the edge of town,” Aden finally answered

“That place is ancient – downright scary. Is he there alone?”

“No. Dad, Grayson, and Madison are there. They’re just setting up equipment, finalizing the closing papers for Dad to buy it. Dad spent most of the day with the codes people, making sure it was safe enough for us to be in there.”

“Where’s my car?” I asked as it dawned on me that I’d left it with Evan. I knew where that school was, and I was ready to go.

“At your house,” Aden answered.

“My bag?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “There, I guess. I’ll take you there.”

“Take me to the school,” I said as I stood up.

“Not tonight,” he mumbled.

“What?! Who are you to say where I can go?” I asked sarcastically, which earned another quiet laugh from Monroe

Aden tightened his jaw and walked around the counter, then looked down at me. “Don’t shoot the messenger – focus on me,” he said through gritted teeth.

I stared up at him and focused. All at once, I was standing in the garage, watching Draven and that Grayson guy load amps and guitars into the back of his Hummer. Draven walked over to Aden. “When she wakes up, take her home. I don’t want her around Winston – and don’t leave her; that demon is following her. She’ll be stubborn enough to call him or go over there – don’t let her – you hear me?”

“She won’t listen,” Aden said as he tried to get out of having to watch out for me.

“Tell her it’s what I want. Tell I love her and that I need her to trust me – I need her safe,” Draven said as he closed the hatch on his truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Will you do that?”

“You will,” Aden said grimly, obviously hating the fact that he was left behind.

Draven stared forward. “Right…work on that with her – I want her to see in an instant.”

I focused my eyes and brought myself out of the vision, only to see Aden staring down at me. He raised one eyebrow. “I don’t like being put in the middle. Don’t make this hard on me – k?”

“Whatever,” I mumbled.

Nana took my plate. Once she put it away, she looked at me. “We need to talk – can we go outside?”

I furrowed my eyebrows and nodded. Nana looked at Aden, then nodded toward Monroe. He moved his head from side to side, disagreeing with whatever he was silently told to do.

I followed Nana to the garage door, then down the steps. The fall night was cool; you could feel winter on the horizon. I always loved fall, the end of summer; maybe it was because my birthday fell in October – the end of it anyway. I couldn’t believe how close I was to eighteen. I felt older than that – a lot older.

Nana leaned against Aden’s gold Hummer and looked over me carefully. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” I said, feeling a little guilty for being short with her earlier.

“I need you to let Monroe stay with you.”

“Seriously? Madison has already taken over my house – I’m never alone,” I complained, regretting that I had agreed to do anything.

“Charlie, that girl has not made one expression – one sound – since she’s been here. You walk in the door, and she laughs – not once, but twice. Autumn said you needed to be near her.”

I looked up at her. Autumn was Draven’s mom’s name; she was always called Mom around me, but when Nana or Evan talked about her they’d say ‘your mother’ or ‘my daughter.’

“What did she show you?” I asked, doubting her words, instead wanting to focus on Nana and see it for myself.

“That you need that girl as much as she needs you. Seriously, Charlie, Autumn hadn’t shown herself in almost two weeks; Draven thought it was because of these kids.”

I rolled my eyes. “Because of that Winston kid? Why would Evan bring someone like that here? Is Grayson like that?”

“No…don’t worry about him; this is just how he’s coping with what he sees. He’s a good boy...I’ve seen deep inside him.”

“Yeah, well, I saw hell,” I countered, knowing whatever she saw had to be really deep inside.

Nana raised one eyebrow. “Was it like a dream, or a reality?”

“There is no reality like that.”

“Then he was letting you see the place Draven is called to…they all have a way of showing you what they want you to see. When I see him, I see a boy who’s scared and confused. When Draven and Aden see him, they see a boy that’s trying to hard to be something he’s not; they see the act that says he’s not afraid.”

“That wasn’t an act – he’s a perve.”